Apple's new Watch, Apple Pay and iPhone 6 met with nervous mocking by competitors

Posted:
in iPhone edited September 2014
Every new product Apple unveiled last week has ignited vocal, public derision from a series of threatened competitors, including Samsung, luxury watch maker LVMH and PayPal. However, their attempts to direct attention away from Apple may likely backfire, just like earlier attempts to demonize Siri, Maps, iCloud and Touch ID.

PayPal ad

PayPal: we will handle Apple Pay, so don't trust us

Yesterday, online payment firm PayPal published a full page ad clearly implying that Apple Pay might not be secure because photos were stolen from celebrities.

The company's implied allegation stopped short of actually saying that PayPal believed that Apple's iCloud service was exploited (because it wasn't), or that there were any connection between iCloud and Apple Pay (there isn't).

In fact, Apple doesn't even actually handle banking transactions in Apple Pay; it is supplying the hardware and software that enable existing banking institutions and credit card processors to upgrade the level of security they provide for their existing credit and debit card customers.

If PayPal actually believed that Apple's payment system was insecure and put users at risk, it would be hard to understand why PayPal's subsidiary Braintree (which also owns Venmo) raced to assure its customers the day after Apple Pay was announced, "we are fully capable of processing Apple Pay transactions should you choose to accept Apple Pay in your app. This means that merchants who currently use Braintree for their payment processing can rest assured that Apple Pay will work with Braintree."

Braintree PayPal Apple Pay


Rather than describing Apple Pay as some insecure mess, Braintree's Bill Ready explained that Apple's new system uses 'well-known' security practices, explaining, "Apple Pay consists of two key elements: support for merchants and payment processors to process Apple Pay transactions via tokenization, and a consumer wallet experience for native iOS apps.

"First, let's cover the payment processing. Tokenization is a well-known approach in the payment space where information such as credit card numbers are hidden by tokens that protect sensitive information. We have many years of experience processing such transactions with the wide array of processing partners we support, which includes most of the major platforms Apple suggests."

He then concluded by staying, "Apple Pay is exciting for mobile commerce. Braintree is here to help you support Apple Pay in addition to the other global payment experiences you need for your business to thrive on iOS, Android, and the web."

Less than a week later, PayPal attempted to resurrect pre-event fear-mongering orchestrated to cast a shadow over Apple's cloud services. That caught the attention of
Keith Rabois, a senior investment partner who previously served as a senior executive at PayPal. His initial reaction was to ask if the PayPal ad was the "Dumbest campaign ever?"

Dumbest ad campaign ever? http://t.co/LZo3jY1O4s

-- Keith Rabois (@rabois)


He followed up with a series of "quiz" tweets asking, "Which company suffers more account take-overs via phishing and other abuses, Apple or PayPal?" then "Is Apple more capable of destroying PayPal w/ advertising (and $30 b annual profits) or PayPal ads inflict damage on Apple?" then "Does PayPal or Apple still have LIVE webpages coded in 1999 that have not been upgraded security wise?" and "Who has a brand that Americans love and who has a brand Americans dislike?"

Ironically, the most vulnerable 1999 webpages LIVE at PayPal today relate to password recovery flows.

-- Keith Rabois (@rabois)


"Ironically, the most vulnerable 1999 webpages LIVE at PayPal today relate to password recovery flows," he added.

Perhaps PayPal just doesn't know what different parts of its various companies are doing. Last fall, my seldom used eBay account was exploited, resulting in weekly charges of $84.99 hitting my PayPal account three times, each debited from my attached checking account. Resolving the issue between the two companies (both operated by PayPal) was a hassle and dragged on for a week before the unauthorized charges were eventually reversed.

PayPal's unflattering history in dealing with fraud and in creating frustrating problems of its own for its users was extensive enough for The Verge to turn into an article. Although the author continued to malign Apple over iCloud without offering any supporting evidence, he also cited repeated events where PayPal had actually shut down users' accounts in error or failed to address serious security issues identified by researchers.

Samsung: we mock the company we slavishly copy

PayPal's advertising tactic drew more than a few comparisons to Samsung, which has been publishing ads attacking Apple and its users for years, even as it has slavishly copied every facet of the iPhone, iPad and iOS.

This year, Samsung released a new batch of ads, including one that claimed the "leads-by-following" company's Galaxy Note product is "more innovative" because it does stylus handwritten recognition like Apple's Newton Message Pad from 1994, and "more fun" because it can run an Android port of a DJ app that originated on iOS.

The ad targets Apple's iPhone 6 Plus as being late to the phablet party that Samsung launched in 2011. The spot, along with others similarly mocking Apple, is voiced by Neal Brennan, a standup comic and co-creator of "The Chapelle Show" (for which he was nominated for three Emmys).

Samsung has no problem paying entertainers and athletes money to stand next to their products, but that doesn't mean they actually use Samsung's stuff. LA Weekly wrote earlier this year that Brennan is "constantly creating and updating numerous sketch/sitcom/stand-up idea lists on his iPhone," and that "Brennan and Dave Chappelle text and FaceTime" between their performances together.

FaceTime doesn't work on the Galaxy Note, so even if Samsung gave Brennan its his free phones and tablets, he'd still need to use his actual iPhone. In fact, when Brennan was featured in a series of photographs of notable comics by photographer Luke Fontana, he happened to be captured holding his iPhone (the only comic in the series holding any piece of technology).

Neal Brennan photo by Luke Fontana


Samsung seems to have a really hard time finding notable people to pay to use its products who actually use its products, even after it pays them (as it did with Ellen DeGeneres at the Oscars, as well as athletes David Beckham, Franz Beckenbauer and David Ferrer).

In August, Samsung had Maroon 5 singer Adam Levine help launch its Milk Music service, where he suggested having an "iPhone burning." Yet last week Levine tweeted that his friends from "The Voice" would be on... "the Ellen Show" from ... his iPhone, just prior to performing at the iTunes Festival.

Adam Levine iPhone tweet

LVMH mocks Apple Watch, then says we "must not copy it," "cannot afford to just follow"

At the other end of the spectrum, Jean-Claude Biver, the head of LVMH's TAG Heuer luxury watch brand, immediately complained to the Telegraph UK that Apple Watch "has no sex appeal. It's too feminine and looks too much like the smartwatches already on the market."

Days later, he told Swiss paper NZZ am Sonntag that "we want to launch a smartwatch at TAG Heuer, but it must not copy the Apple Watch," adding simply, "We cannot afford to just follow in somebody else's footsteps."

Apple Watch


While Biver couldn't quite align a coherent statement of whether he thought Apple Watch was a terrible design or, alternatively, challenging to copy in way that didn't give the appearance of being like Samsung, other luxury watch talking heads insisted that Apple's watch was "too masculine," rather than being "too feminine" or alternatively having "no sex appeal" at all.

Apple Watch


While Apple didn't attach any gender roles to either the sizes or models of the Apple Watch it showed off last week, it did commission a series of photographs that depict it begin worn by both men and women, none of whom appear to be lacking sufficient appeal or fearful of the sexuality emanating from their watch.

Apple Watch

Apple Watch

This all happened before

Competitors' fears being expressed through nervous laughter directed at Apple are nothing new. The company has had every one of its blockbuster new product categories scoffed at by the companies who were about to be run over by them, including Microsoft, Blackberry, Palm and Nokia scoffing at the iPhone.

After Apple released Siri, Andy Rubin, the head of Android development at Google, insisted that he didn't "believe that your phone should be an assistant" like Siri, while Microsoft's Andy Lees of WP7 was quick to say he didn't think the new service was "super useful," indicating his company would avoid having its users speak commands to their phones in public. Both companies subsequently turned around and copied Siri.

Microsoft, last to the voice assistant party, is now scoffing at Apple's Siri again. Ironically, nobody is actually using Windows Phone, not even the voice actress Microsoft hired to speak its Siri-impersonating voice. Just like Samsung's celebrities, Jen Taylor uses an iPhone, too.

Jen Taylor Cortana iPhone


When Apple showed off its own Maps, Google helped orchestrate a campaign of doubt and ridicule, even allowing its Motorola subsidiary to fake an address for a mocking online ad campaign. Within the first year, Google lost a huge number of Maps users, with data from app analytics firm comScore indicating that Google retained less than a third of the iOS Maps audience it once dominated exclusively.

iCloud has similarly been scoffed at by rival cloud services, but Apple now has extremely high adoption with its iOS and Mac users after building far more useful and innovative services into iCloud than third party services can in many cases even offer (including Safari bookmarks and Reading List sync; Find My Phone and new Continuity features in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite).

Last year, critics immediately jumped on Touch ID, claiming that it could be easily bypassed by a team of experts equipped with high resolution scans of a user's fingerprints. Henry Blodget of Business Insider notoriously called Touch ID "an irrelevant gimmick" before it shipped.

However, that scoffing didn't stop users from seeing immediate convenience in the feature once it became available. This summer, Apple's chief executive Tim Cook stated that 83 percent of iPhone 5s users were now actually setting up Touch ID passcodes and securing their phones (an improvement over the fewer than half that were doing so prior to Touch ID).

As a result, law enforcement reported a significant reduction in device thefts they attributed to iOS 7's passcode-activated Activation Lock.

iOS thefts down


Lawmakers in Minnesota and California were so impressed with the results that they passed laws forcing Google, Samsung, Motorola, Blackberry, Microsoft and Nokia to copy Apple's lead in securing users' phones or face the loss of significant markets.

Perhaps Apple is having the last laugh.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 99
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    Truest article title DED has ever written. Didn't justify the length of the piece though.

  • Reply 2 of 99
    I remember how they laughed at the iPhone...
  • Reply 3 of 99

    And the Mac.  And the iPod.  And the iPad.

  • Reply 4 of 99
    [B]Apple[/B]: [I]"We are not in the business of collecting your data."[/I] - Eddie Cue, 9/9/2014

    [B]Google[/B]: [nervous fidgeting, crickets chirping ...]
  • Reply 5 of 99
    rf9rf9 Posts: 70member
    They are all very afraid. Same with Samsung which wasted no time going on then offensive. PayPal is going to lose a lot of money. A lot!
  • Reply 6 of 99

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post

    FaceTime doesn't work on the Galaxy Note, so even if Samsung gave Brennan its his free phones and tablets, he'd still need to use his actual iPhone.

     

    But FaceTime *could* work on the next Galaxy Note (or whenever Google can push out updates to old Android phones.)  Thanks to the VirnetX case being thrown out.  You know, the lawsuit against Apple that claimed infringement over (VPN) connectivity as used in FaceTime.

     

    Here's the AI story about that lawsuit:

    http://appleinsider.com/articles/14/09/16/appellate-court-rejects-368-million-virnetx-patent-victory-over-apple

     

    Knock yourselves out, Google and Samsung (and any other Android hardware makers that haven't been killed off by Apple's products and Samsung's marketing budget.)  Because guess what.  Incorporating FaceTime isn't *copying.*  You'll be using open standards just like Apple.

     

    And you remember what happens when you copy, right Samsung?

  • Reply 7 of 99

    Originally Posted by rf9 View Post



    They are all very afraid. Same with Samsung which wasted no time going on then offensive. PayPal is going to lose a lot of money. A lot!

     

    Samsung's mobile sales (especially phablet sales) will drop suddenly and permanently starting this quarter.

    Will be fun to look back on what happened.  In about a year or so.

    We'll see what kind of ads Samsung can afford to run in fall 2015.

  • Reply 8 of 99
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Possibly via Digitimes:

    Apple, in order to better compete against Android and other companies, will be increasing the release frequency of their iPhone models.

    The iPhone 7 will be due in October, the iPhone 8 in November, and iPhone 9 will be skipped altogether in order to allow iPhone 10 to ship before the end of this year.

    As a result of this, warranty and support periods have been shortened accordingly to a standard work week. However, AppleCare and AppleCare Plus can be purchased to extend this period by twenty-four and forty-eight hours respectively.

    The iPhone 10 will come in three set colour and size combinations:

    iPhone 10 Minus - Oriental Gold - 3 Inch Screen
    iPhone 10 - Classic White - 5 Inch Screen
    iPhone 10 Plus - African American Black - 7 Inch Screen

    All phones will come with Super Ultra Mega Retina HD x2 - an 8K high resolution display, on both front and rear of the phone, that will allow your eyes to be unable to view even more pixels.

    New A9 chip - Built on 128 Bit Ancient Roman Architecture (for classic Italian style).

    M9 Motion Co-processor - Designed to work seamlessly with the included "iDrunk2Much" application. When it detects swaying and staggering, it automatically calls you a cab and reminds you to vomit right at the end of the trip.

    Diamond Coated Exterior - Now you can unlock your car. By smashing the window with it.

    8 Megapixel ACME Telescopic Camera - So powerful that, when you turn and look behind, you'll just be able to see the competition's phones on the horizon.

    Alternatively, an optional macro lens can be fitted allowing the phone to be used to see anything as small as a Samsung Mobile profit margin.

    TouchID 2.0 (also known as TouchedUp) includes five separate TouchID scanners that allow you to scan each and every finger of your hand, at the same time, for increased security.

    FFC (Far Field Communication) Payment System allows you to make payments. From further away.

    VoUSB (Voice Over Universal Serial Bus)

    VoMSD (Voice Over MicroSD)

    Handoff - Great for when you're eating sticky BBQ in a Samsung commercial and need to answer an incoming call. When activated, it allows the phone to float in mid-air for for 'zero-handed operation'.

    Slot-loading Blu-Ray/MiniDiscPlayer.

    Batteries in the Cloud

    Included Stylus AND Paintbrush.

    Comes with iOSX 10: The world's most combined operating system.

    With true multitasking that allows your phone to intermittently fire up and download the latest malware updates in the background so you'll never find yourself in the embarrassing position of being 'not infected'.

    Additional unnecessary features can added using BozoKit Development API's.
  • Reply 9 of 99
    Nice job, DED!
  • Reply 10 of 99
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,335member

    The pile of soiled diapers is growing quickly across the community of product vendors who don't control their own integrated hardware, software, platform, and ecosystem solution and thus, their own destiny. Being good at only one thing no longer cuts it. Integration is king on the product side just as teamwork is key on the people side. All the world admired Steve Jobs' vision, passion, and design sensibilities but I think they've overlooked the killer instinct, persistence, and unrelenting focus on operational excellence that Tim Cook brings to the table. Now they will pay the price. Steve's last great act as visionary was leaving Jony and his team to carry on and extend the product vision in spectacular fashion and Tim and his crew to pummel the competition with operational excellence on a global scale like no company has ever done before. Multiply this times the thousands of world class Apple employees and here we are.

     

    Welcome to the New Apple. 

  • Reply 11 of 99
    sockrolid wrote: »
    Samsung's mobile sales (especially phablet sales) will drop suddenly and permanently starting this quarter.
    Will be fun to look back on what happened.  In about a year or so.
    We'll see what kind of ads Samsung can afford to run in fall 2015.

    Yeah I think 12 months will be a reasonable timeframe to see the impacts on Google, Samsung, PayPal etc... I know there is a lot of talk about how quickly ApplePay will be adopted however I don't think it will take long before it's available outside the US and I for one can't wait to reduce my reliance on PayPal.

    With all the free positive advertising Apple is receiving from the major US banks I expect sales of the new iPhone 6 and even the AppleWatch to be far greater than what many analysts are predicting.

    Would be interesting to see in 12 months time what the Android to iOS switch over rate is. Of course there will still be a market for low end devices so Android certainly isn't dead in the water at this stage. For premium devices however I can see Apple increasing their market share even further in a segment they already dominate.

    It's going to be difficult to spin the figures to look negative for Apple in 12 months time but I'm sure these desperate companies and the analysts on their pay roll will still try.
  • Reply 12 of 99

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post

     
    Neal Brennan photo by Luke Fontana


     

    Caption 1: "Oh come on.  Do I LOOK like I have an agenda?  I'm on a stool, dawg."

     

    Caption 2: "My First Ladder"

  • Reply 13 of 99
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by rf9 View PostPayPal is going to lose a lot of money. A lot!

    Doubtful. Some perhaps but unless Ebay completely abandons PayPal and goes to ApplePay PayPal won't be losing a whole lot

  • Reply 14 of 99
    Apple Pay: make hay.
    Apple Watch: Newton botch.
  • Reply 15 of 99
    rf9rf9 Posts: 70member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Lord Amhran View Post

     

    Doubtful. Some perhaps but unless Ebay completely abandons PayPal and goes to ApplePay PayPal won't be losing a whole lot


    PayPal is used on a lot of online merchant sites.  Nearly all of those will eventually integrate ApplePay and anyone using ApplePay will choose that over PayPal.  Also PayPal is putting great effort into paying at point of sale terminals and Apple Pay could decimate that.  Well at least 1/2 of the paying population that are on iPhone and not Android.

     

    PayPal wouldn't be making such a stink if they weren't threatened.  Trust me.

  • Reply 16 of 99
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    I want to skip to Jan and see what the 6 did to Sammy's numbers in the Dec qtr.

    Not sure if I'll use Apple Pay but Paypal is foolish to brag about its security.
  • Reply 17 of 99
    quinneyquinney Posts: 2,528member
    sockrolid wrote: »

    IMAGE

    Caption 1: "Oh come on.  Do I LOOK like I have an agenda?  I'm on a stool, dawg."

    Caption 2: "My First Ladder"

    He looks like he is afraid a rat is going to run up his pant leg.
  • Reply 18 of 99
    rf9rf9 Posts: 70member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SockRolid View Post

     

     

    Samsung's mobile sales (especially phablet sales) will drop suddenly and permanently starting this quarter.

    Will be fun to look back on what happened.  In about a year or so.

    We'll see what kind of ads Samsung can afford to run in fall 2015.


    The real test will be in China where apparently they prefer alphabets more than say American markets.  Rumor has it that Apple diverted a lot of 6 plus products to China for this reason, though right now they're caught up in regulatory red tape.  Will they prefer 6 Plus over Sammy's Note?  Split the market?  Or will they all got to a cheaper competitor like Xaiomi (sp?  I always spell it wrong.)

    We may never really know.

  • Reply 19 of 99
    Doubtful. Some perhaps but unless Ebay completely abandons PayPal and goes to ApplePay PayPal won't be losing a whole lot

    They wouldn't need to completely abandon PayPal. Would only need to add support for ApplePay but I don't see that happening any time soon. Not sure what percentage of PayPal's profits is derived from eBay purchases but the only areas they will be losing money is from anyone with an ApplePay enabled device making purchases outside of eBay. I don't know how much that will account for but I currently use PayPal for some of my regular online payments and will happily be switching over to ApplePay if it's an option offered by those vendors.
  • Reply 20 of 99

    Originally Posted by Lolliver View Post



    Yeah I think 12 months will be a reasonable timeframe to see the impacts on Google, Samsung, PayPal etc... I know there is a lot of talk about how quickly ApplePay will be adopted however I don't think it will take long before it's available outside the US and I for one can't wait to reduce my reliance on PayPal.



    With all the free positive advertising Apple is receiving from the major US banks I expect sales of the new iPhone 6 and even the AppleWatch to be far greater than what many analysts are predicting.



    Would be interesting to see in 12 months time what the Android to iOS switch over rate is. Of course there will still be a market for low end devices so Android certainly isn't dead in the water at this stage. For premium devices however I can see Apple increasing their market share even further in a segment they already dominate.



    It's going to be difficult to spin the figures to look negative for Apple in 12 months time but I'm sure these desperate companies and the analysts on their pay roll will still try.

     

    In a year, there could be many international banks rolling out support for Apple Pay.  And it will be pretty tough for anybody else to 1. develop a Secure Element competitor, 2. develop (or buy) technology as good as Touch ID, 3. combine all of that software and hardware technology into a mobile device, then 4. convince merchants (brick and mortar and online) and banks to use their frankensteined Apple Pay clone.

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